Supercapacitors (Ultra-Capacitors or Electro-Chemical Capacitors):
Supercapacitors are being considered for electric vehicle (EV), renewable energy storage, and modern grid applications. The high volumetric capacitance density of a supercapacitor (10 to 100 times greater than those of electrolytic capacitors) derives from using porous electrodes to create a large surface area conducive to the formation of diffuse double layer charges. This electric double layer (EDL) is created naturally at the solid-electrolyte interface when voltage is imposed. This implies that the specific capacitance of a supercapacitor is directly proportional to the specific surface area of the electrode material, e.g. activated carbon. This surface area must be accessible by electrolyte and the resulting interfacial zones must be sufficiently large to accommodate the EDL charges.
This EDL mechanism is based on surface ion adsorption. The required ions are pre-existing in a liquid electrolyte and do not come from the opposite electrode. In other words, the required ions to be deposited on the surface of a negative electrode (anode) active material (e.g., activated carbon particle) do not come from the positive electrode (cathode) side, and the required ions to be deposited on the surface of a cathode active material do not come from the anode side. When a supercapacitor is re-charged, local positive ions are deposited onto or close to a surface of a negative electrode with their matting negative ions staying close side by side (typically via local molecular or ionic polarization of charges). At the other electrode, negative ions are deposited onto or close to a surface of this positive electrode with the matting positive ions staying close side by side. Again, there is no exchange of ions between an anode active material and a cathode active material.
In some supercapacitors, the stored energy is further augmented by pseudo-capacitance effects due to some electrochemical reactions (e.g., redox). In such a pseudo-capacitor, the ions involved in a redox pair also pre-exist in the same electrode. Again, there is no exchange of ions between an anode active material and a cathode active material.
Since the formation of EDLs does not involve a chemical reaction or an exchange of ions between the two opposite electrodes, the charge or discharge process of an EDL supercapacitor can be very fast, typically in seconds, resulting in a very high power density (typically 5,000-10,000 W/kg). Compared with batteries, supercapacitors offer a higher power density, require no maintenance, offer a much higher cycle-life, require a very simple charging circuit, experience no “memory effect,” and are generally much safer. Physical, rather than chemical, energy storage is the key reason for their safe operation and extraordinarily high cycle-life.
Despite the positive attributes of supercapacitors, there are several technological barriers to widespread implementation of supercapacitors for various industrial applications. For instance, supercapacitors possess very low energy densities when compared to batteries (e.g., 5-8 Wh/kg for commercial supercapacitors vs. 10-30 Wh/kg for the lead acid battery and 50-100 Wh/kg for the NiMH battery). Lithium-ion batteries possess a much higher energy density, typically in the range of 100-180 Wh/kg, based on the cell weight.
Lithium-Ion Batteries:
Although possessing a much higher energy density, lithium-ion batteries deliver a very low power density (typically 100-500 W/kg), requiring typically hours for re-charge. Conventional lithium-ion batteries also pose some safety concern.
The low power density or long re-charge time of a lithium ion battery is due to the mechanism of shuttling lithium ions between an anode active material and a cathode active material, which requires lithium ions to intercalate into the bulk of anode active material particles during re-charge, and into the bulk of cathode active material particles during discharge. For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 1(A), in a most commonly used lithium-ion battery featuring graphite particles as an anode active material, lithium ins are required to diffuse into the inter-planar spaces of a graphite crystal at the anode during re-charge. Most of these lithium ions have to come all the way from the cathode side by diffusing out of the bulk of a cathode active particle (e.g. lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate, or other lithium insertion compound) through the pores of a solid separator (pores being filled with a liquid electrolyte), and into the bulk of a graphite particle at the anode. During discharge, lithium ions diffuse out of the anode active material, migrate through the liquid electrolyte phase, and then diffuse into the bulk of complex cathode crystals.
These intercalation or diffusion processes require a long time to accomplish because solid-state diffusion (or diffusion inside a solid) is difficult and slow. This is why, for instance, the current lithium-ion battery for plug-in hybrid vehicles requires 2-7 hours of recharge time, as opposed to just seconds for supercapacitors. The above discussion suggests that an energy storage device that is capable of storing as much energy as in a battery and yet can be fully recharged in one or two minutes like a supercapacitor would be considered a revolutionary advancement in energy storage technology.
Partially Surface-Controlled Lithium Ion-Exchanging Batteries or Lithium Super-Batteries:
Instead of using an inorganic lithium intercalation compound, such as LiCoO2 and LiFePO4, that requires lithium insertion into and extraction from the bulk of an inorganic particle (typically 100 nm-20 μm, but more typically 1-10 μm in diameter), several attempts have been made to use organic molecules or polymers as an electrode active material for the cathode (lithium metal alone as the anode). For instance, Le Gall, et al investigated Poly(2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone-3,6-methylene) as an organic polymer cathode [T. Le Gall, et al. J. Power Sources, 119 (2003) 316-320] and Chen, et al used LixC6O6 organic cathode, obtained from a renewable source, in a lithium ion battery [H. Chen, et al. “From biomass to a renewable LixC6O6 organic electrode for sustainable Li-ion batteries,” ChemSusChem, 1 (2008) 348-355]. In addition, X. Y. Han, et al. studied carbonyl derivative polymers [“Aromatic carbonyl derivative polymers as high-performance Li-ion storage materials,” Adv. Material, 19, 1616-1621 (2007)] and J. F. Xiang, et al. studied a coordination polymer as a cathode [“A novel coordination polymer as positive electrode material for lithium ion battery,” Crystal Growth & Design, 8, 280-282 (2008)].
Unfortunately, these organic materials exhibit very poor electronic conductivity and, hence, electrons could not be quickly collected or could not be collected at all. Although these organic molecules contain carbonyl groups (>C═O) that could readily react with lithium ions (forming a redox pair), this redox mechanism was overwhelmed by the poor electronic conductivity. As a result, the battery cells featuring these organic molecules exhibit poor power densities. Le Gall et al added a large proportion of conductive acetylene black (typically 40-60% by weight) to partially overcome the conductivity issue; but, acetylene black significantly dilutes the amount of the active material. Further, the best achievable specific capacity of 150 mAh/g is far less than the theoretical specific capacity of 705 mAh/g of Poly(2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone-3,6-methylene).
Recently, more electrically conducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) containing carbonyl groups were used by Lee, et al to replace the organic molecules for use as a cathode material [S. W. Lee, et al, “High Power Lithium Batteries from Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes,” Nature Nanotechnology, 5 (2010) 531-537]. The significantly higher electronic conductivity of CNTs does serve to overcome the poor conductivity problem of organic molecules. However, the CNT-based electrodes prepared by the layer-by-layer (LBL) approach still suffer from several technical and economical issues. Some of these issues are:                (1) CNTs are known to be extremely expensive due to the low yield, low production rate, and low purification rate commonly associated with the current CNT preparation processes. The high material costs have significantly hindered the widespread application of CNTs.        (2) CNTs tend to form a tangled mass resembling a hairball, which is difficult to work with (e.g., difficult to disperse in a liquid solvent or resin matrix).        (3) The so-called “layer-by-layer” approach (LBL) used by Lee, et al is a slow and expensive process that is not amenable to large-scale fabrication of battery electrodes, or mass production of electrodes with an adequate thickness (most of the batteries have an electrode thickness of 100-300 μm). The thickness of the LBL electrodes produced by Lee, et al (a noted MIT research group) was limited to 3 μm or less.        (4) One might wonder how the thickness of the LBL CNT electrodes would impact their performance. The data provided by Lee, et al (e.g. FIG. S-7 of the Supporting Material of Lee, et al) show that the power density dropped by one order of magnitude when the LBL CNT electrode thickness was increased from 0.3 μm to 3.0 μm. The performance is likely to drop even further if the electrode thickness is increased to that of a useful battery or supercapacitor electrode (e.g., 100-300 μm).        (5) Although the ultra-thin LBL CNT electrodes provide a high power density (since Li ions only have to travel an extremely short distance at the cathode), Lee, et al showed that the CNT-based composite electrodes prepared without using the LBL approach did not exhibit particularly good performance.        (6) CNTs have very limited amount of suitable sites to accept a functional group without damaging the basal plane or graphene plane structure. A CNT has only one end that is readily functionalizable and this end is an extremely small proportion of the total CNT surface. By chemically functionalizing the exterior basal plane, one could dramatically compromise the electronic conductivity of a CNT.        
Most recently, our research groups have reported, in two patent applications, the development of lithium ion-exchanging super-batteries and two new classes of highly conducting cathode active materials for use in these super-batteries. Each class of cathode active material has a functional group that is capable of rapidly and reversibly forming a redox reaction with lithium ions. These materials are nanographene (both single-layer graphene and multi-layer graphene sheets, collectively referred to as nanographene platelets, NGPs) and disordered carbon (including soft carbon and hard carbon). These two patent applications are: C. G. Liu, et al., “Lithium Super-battery with a Functionalized Nano Graphene Cathode” (US Patent Publication No. 2012/0045688, filed Aug. 19, 2010) and C. G. Liu, et al, “Lithium Super-battery with a Functionalized Disordered Carbon Cathode” (US Patent Publication No. 2012-0077080, filed Sep. 23, 2010).
These new types of cathode active materials (used in the so-called lithium super-battery or, in the present context, a partially surface-controlled lithium ion-exchanging battery) include a chemically functionalized nanographene platelet (NGP) or a functionalized disordered carbon material (such as soft carbon and hard carbon) having certain specific functional groups capable of reversibly and rapidly forming a redox pair with a lithium ion during the charge and discharge cycles of a battery cell. An NGP is a single-layer graphene sheet or a stack of several graphene sheets with each sheet being a hexagonal structure of carbon atoms (single layer being as thin as 0.34 nm). In these two patent applications, the functionalized disordered carbon or NGP is used in the cathode (not the anode) of the lithium super-battery. In this cathode, lithium ions in the liquid electrolyte only have to migrate to the edges or surfaces of graphene sheets (in the case of functionalized NGP cathode), or the edges/surfaces of the aromatic ring structures (small graphene sheets) in a disordered carbon matrix. No solid-state diffusion is required at the cathode. The presence of a functionalized graphene or carbon enables reversible storage of lithium on the surfaces (including edges), not the bulk, of the cathode material. Such a cathode material provides one type of lithium-storing or lithium-capturing surface. Typically, this surface has a functional group thereon capable of forming a redox pair with a lithium ion. Another type of lithium-storing surface is based on simple lithium deposition on a surface of a nanostructured functional material.
In conventional lithium-ion batteries, lithium ions must diffuse into the bulk of a cathode active material during discharge and out of the bulk of the cathode active material during re-charge. In these conventional lithium-ion batteries, lithium ions must also diffuse in and out of the inter-planar spaces in a graphite crystal serving as an anode active material. The lithium insertion or extraction procedures at both the cathode and the anode are very slow. Due to these slow solid-state diffusion processes of lithium in and out of these intercalation compounds, the conventional lithium ion batteries do not exhibit a high power density and the batteries require a long re-charge time. None of these conventional devices rely on select functional groups (e.g. attached at the edge or basal plane surfaces of a graphene sheet) that readily and reversibly form a redox reaction with a lithium ion from a lithium-containing electrolyte.
In contrast, the lithium super-battery as reported in our two earlier patent applications relies on the operation of a fast and reversible reaction between a functional group (attached or bonded to a graphene structure at the cathode) and a lithium ion in the electrolyte. Lithium ions coming from the anode side through a separator only have to diffuse, in the liquid electrolyte, to reach a surface/edge of a graphene plane at the cathode. These lithium ions do not need to diffuse into or out of the interior of a solid particle. Since no diffusion-limited intercalation is involved at the cathode, this process is fast and can occur in seconds. Hence, this is a totally new class of hybrid supercapacitor-battery that exhibits unparalleled and unprecedented combined performance of an exceptional power density, high energy density, long and stable cycle life, and wide operating temperature range. This device has the best of both battery and supercapacitor worlds.
In the lithium super-batteries described in these two patent applications, the anode comprises either particles of a lithium titanate-type anode active material (still requiring solid state diffusion at the anode), as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1(B), or a lithium foil alone (without a nanostructured material to support or capture the returning lithium ions/atoms during recharge), as illustrated in FIG. 1(C). In the latter case, lithium has to deposit onto the front surface of an anode current collector alone (e.g. copper foil) when the battery is recharged.
Since the specific surface area of a current collector is very low (typically <<1 m2/gram), the over-all lithium re-deposition rate is relatively low and this process still can become surface area-limited.
Fully Surface-Controlled (Surface-Enabled), Lithium Ion-Exchanging Battery Device
Another superior energy storage device that also operates on lithium ion exchange between the cathode and the anode was reported in a co-pending patent application of ours [A. Zhamu, et al., “Surface-Controlled, Lithium Ion-Exchanging Energy Storage Device,” US Patent Publication No. US20120164539A1, filed Dec. 23, 2010.] In this new device, both the cathode and the anode (not just the cathode) have a lithium-capturing or lithium-storing surface (typically both being nanostructured with many lithium-storing surfaces) and both electrodes (not just the cathode) obviate the need to engage in solid-state diffusion. Both the anode and the cathode have large amounts of surface areas to allow lithium ions to deposit thereon simultaneously, enabling dramatically higher charge and discharge rates and higher power densities. The uniform dispersion of these surfaces of a nanostructured material (e.g. graphene, CNT, disordered carbon, nanowire, and nanofiber) in an electrode also provides a more uniform electric field in the electrode in which lithium can more uniformly deposit without forming a dendrite. Such a nanostructure eliminates the potential formation of dendrites, which was the most serious problem in conventional lithium metal batteries (commonly used in 1980s and early 1990s before being replaced by lithium-ion batteries). Such a device is herein referred to as a fully surface-controlled (or surface-enabled), lithium ion-exchanging battery.
Sodium Ion Batteries and Sodium Compound-Based Supercapacitors
Aqueous electrolyte-based asymmetric or hybrid supercapacitors with a sodium ion intercalation compound (NaMnO2) as the cathode and activated carbon as the anode were investigated by Qu, et al [Q. T. Qu, Y. Shi, S. Tian, Y. H. Chen, Y. P. Wu, R. Holze, Journal of Power Sources, 194 (2009) 1222]. Similar compounds (sodium birnessite, NaxMnO2) were used as the electrode materials of another supercapacitor [L. Athouel, F. Moser, R. Dugas, O. Crosnier, D. Belanger, T. Brousse, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112 (2008) 7270]. At least the cathode in these supercapacitors involves solid state diffusion (intercalation and deintercalation) of Na ions in a NaxMnO2 solid. Furthermore, these supercapacitors do not involve exchange of Na ions between the anode and the cathode. They still exhibit relatively low energy densities.
Sodium ion batteries using a hard carbon-based anode (Na-carbon intercalation compound) and a sodium transition metal phosphate as a cathode have been described by several research groups: Zhuo, X. Y. Wang, A. P. Tang, Z. M. Liu, S. Gamboa, P. J. Sebastian, Journal of Power Sources 160 (2006) 698; J. Barker, Y. Saidi, J. Swoyer, US Patent Application US2005/0238961, 2005; J. Barker; M. Y. Saidi, and J. Swoyer, “Sodium Ion Batteries,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,759,008 (Jul. 20, 2010 and J. F. Whitacre, A. Tevar, and S. Sharma, “Na4Mn9O18 as a positive electrode material for an aqueous electrolyte sodium-ion energy storage device,” Electrochemistry Communications 12 (2010) 463-466.
However, these sodium-based devices exhibit even lower specific energies and rate capabilities than Li-ion batteries. These conventional sodium-ion batteries require lithium ions to diffuse in and out of a sodium intercalation compound at both the anode and the cathode. The required solid-state diffusion processes for sodium ions in a sodium-ion battery are even slower than the Li diffusion processes in a Li-ion battery, leading to excessively low power densities.
Partially and Fully Surface-Enabled, Metal Ion-Exchanging Battery Devices (not Including Li Ions Alone)
Parallel to our work on the development of surface-controlled lithium ion-exchanging battery devices and lithium super-batteries, we have also conducted diligent research and development on batteries based on the exchange of other types of alkali ions than lithium, and other types of metal ions (such as alkaline-earth metals, transition metals, non-transition metals, such as aluminum, tin, and gallium, etc.). No prior art had anticipated that these non-lithium ions, having vastly different ionic sizes and electron affinity, electronegativity, electrochemical potential, or valency than lithium, could form a redox reaction or chemical complex with any functional group at the cathode or at both the cathode and the anode material. Specifically, no prior art had taught about or suggested that a divalent ion (e.g. Ca+2) or trivalent ion (e.g. Al+3) could rapidly and reversibly form a redox pair or chemical complex with a surface-borne functional group, such as carbonyl (>═O), on a surface (or edge) of a nanostructured material (e.g., NGP, CNT, or porous disordered carbon) for a battery application. No one had indicated that large ions like Na+, K+, Ca+2, Zn+2, and Al+3 (all larger than Li+ ions) could be exchanged between the anode and the cathode in a fast and reversible manner, with or without intercalation. There had been no previous scientific basis to predict if a super-battery or surface-enabled battery device could be based on these non-lithium ions. Our extensive and in-depth research has led to very surprising, ground-breaking results that are herein reported.
The present invention provides partially or fully surface-enabled, metal ion-exchanging battery devices, based on non-lithium metals such as non-lithium alkali metals (Na, K, Rb, Cs, and Fr), alkaline metals (e.g., Be, Mg, Ca, and Ba), transition metals (e.g., Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Zn), and other metals (e.g. Al, Sn, Pb, etc). The instant application claims surface-enabled battery devices based on non-lithium alkali metal ions (Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr, and combinations thereof) and their mixtures with Li (but not Li alone). This application also claims surface-enabled battery devices based on alkaline-earth metal ions, transition metal ions, and other types of metal ions that have a suitable electrochemical potential (e.g., not more than 3.0 volts lower than the reference Li/Li+ potential).